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I just picked up my first classic truck (1980 Dodge D100), and there's a laundry list of things that need to be fixed. A top priority is headlights arent working. When I bought the truck, the previous owner didnt know much either, and put a new battery in, but when they did, they pulled a green wire that was attached to the negative terminal clamp. I'm not sure where this wire actually attached to, but it looks like a factory fitting, and I cant see any open wires that are close enough that it should attach to. The truck came with an old service manual, and I stared at the wiring diagram for probably 30 minutes trying to figure out what piece of the puzzle this is, but its stumping me (i'm mostly a dirt bike guy, and there are like 10 wires total on those, so its easier to not get lost).
Going off memory. I think that wire attached to the radiator support. If you place your finger on the top of the radiator support next to the battery, follow it underneath the lip and it should screw in there.
Heres the wiring diagram I've been looking at. My best guess is in one of the photos, theres a little sentence that says "dotted line indicates standard 41" in the lower left corner - the grounded wire just above that sentence to the right is grounded, and that seems like the wire i'm dealing with, but the wires it connects to dont make sense with the wires I see open.
Not sure about this green wire just yet....
Have you checked the fuse box for a headlight fuse? and if so is it good?
Also Check the headlight dimmer switch.. " Is this year still mounted on the floor'? or did they move it up on the steering column that year?
Thank you all for the help - heres a bit more info: Kuvasz101 - the only thing I can see within reach of the green wire with the correct male end fitting is the horn in the middle of the radiator support, so unless that green wire is supposed to connect from the neg. terminal to the horn, I think its supposed to go somewhere else.
Racerhog - I've looked at the fuses and they're all good. The truck has the hi beams as a foot switch down by the e-brake. I've check that both ways and I dont think thats it.
Just for a bit of clarification: The way this all happened was, as I was just about to drive away from the seller, they said "hang on", ran inside, and handed me that green wire. One end has the little black plastic clip, and one end had part of the negative battery terminal attached. The seller said "when we put the new battery in, we put in a new neg. terminal because the old one was corroded" - so this tells me that before they replaced the battery, the green wire they handed me was connected from the neg. terminal to somewhere on the truck. I'm not sure if it was originally grounded to the frame from the factory, but somewhere along the line, someone moved the ground to the neg. terminal of the battery. I just cant find where the other end is supposed to plug in.
I was able to finally open up your video link on my other computer. That green wire and the connector are the identical connections used on the horn. That other plug should go to the horn relay.
01-12-2024, 12:53 PM
